


New Year's Eve in the Shire

by Cassunjey



Series: A Traveller in Middle-earth [4]
Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, New Year's Eve, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:33:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28463898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cassunjey/pseuds/Cassunjey
Summary: It's a very wintery New Year in the Shire. Time for a party and some fireworks.~~~~~~~~~~“Bit stormy for fireworks, is it not?”“Nonsense.” Gandalf snorted. “I would have thought you, of all people, would have had a little more faith in me by now, Bilbo Baggins. When have I ever let you down?”~~~~~~~~~~This one shot sits between my fix-it story 'A Traveller in Middle-Earth' and 'A Traveller in the Shire' but has a lower rating.For a little context Bilbo has returned to the Shire with Kili following the Battle of the Five Armies.
Relationships: Bilbo Baggins & Kíli
Series: A Traveller in Middle-earth [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1928956
Comments: 20
Kudos: 14





	New Year's Eve in the Shire

Over the sound of fiddles and merriment drifting across the field Bilbo heard the crunch of heavy dwarven boots on snow.

“I’m still not convinced you chose the right spot for it, Bilbo.” Kili crouched beside him and looked through the iron railings at the little seedling.

“It’s the perfect place.” The young leaves were bowed under the weight of the snow lying on them. Bilbo reached through a gap in the iron ring and gently brushed them clear. The snow was beginning to pile up inside the protective railings and he wasn’t sure if that was a problem. He liked to think that he knew his plants but an oak tree was a bit outside his experience. It seemed hardy enough though. “Look how tall it is already. Perhaps by the time the little one is big enough this tree might also be big enough for him or her to climb. Wouldn’t that be something? They can grow up together.”

Kili made a noise that could have meant anything and reached over the railings to scoop out some of the snow surrounding the thin sprout. Bilbo watched the little pile grow on the outside of the iron ring that protected the seedling as Kili worked. He looked over his shoulder toward the large marquee lining the side of the party field. Warm torchlight spilled from it, the shifting shadows and happy noise of the crowd stretching out over the snow toward them. Bilbo could easily make out Gandalf moving through the gathered hobbits but he couldn’t see her. Perhaps she was further into the warmth, closer to the food and drink. The wind blowing across the field was very chill and she didn’t really like to be cold.

“Is Ness inside?”

Kili shook his head.

“Oh.” That was disappointing. She had claimed to be looking forward to it when they spoke before Bilbo left for the party.

“She’s tired.”

The heavy cloth of Kili’s hood covered his face, hiding his expression from Bilbo. But then, Bilbo didn’t really need to see his face. He could hear it in the carefully neutral tone. He couldn’t help feeling annoyed with Ness. Which was perhaps unfair but so be it. He’d really hoped for a little more effort. Just for one night. A few hours really.

He reached out and patted Kili’s shoulder. “Won’t be much longer now and she’ll be back to her usual self I’m sure.”

Kili didn’t answer, seemingly very busy scraping the last of the snow from within the iron ring of railings. The winter grass of the party field peeped out in patches from beneath the white powder.

Bilbo decided he would have a word with her tomorrow. She couldn’t really complain about folk in the Shire looking at her strangely if she didn’t make the smallest attempt to join in. Celebrating the beginning of a new year was the perfect time to make friends in his opinion.

“The Thain was very impressed with this earlier.” Bilbo touched the railings and smiled as Kili looked up at him. “He has a bit of a deer problem in his back fields. So I think you might get quite a big order soon.”

“Really?” Kili brightened.

“Yes, really. He thought it was a great idea. He usually uses wooden enclosures for his apple trees but there’s some huge stags this year and they are making short work of them.”

“He didn’t see all the rough bits did he? But maybe they were mostly covered up by the snow. Was it still daylight when he saw it?” Kili took a hold of Bilbo’s sleeve and pulled him closer. “Did he look at this piece? The join here is really poor. And this part here is especially bad.”

Bilbo leaned forward as instructed to look as Kili pointed out all the sections which apparently weren’t quite up to dwarven standard. They all seemed absolutely fine to him but he wriggled his numb toes and waited patiently. “I feel that you are being a little hard on yourself,” he said when Kili finally finished listing all the weak points. “Neither the deer or the Thain will notice any of that. It looks perfect to me.”

“Well, your cake looked perfect to me too.”

“Point taken.” It had been one of those days when nothing went quite right. The cream had split. The oven was slightly too hot, then not hot enough. The icing far too runny. He’d almost given up and brought a plate of scones for the buffet.

“You should see what Marigold has brought.” Bilbo stood and brushed the snowflakes from his cloak. He tugged his hood further forward and stamped his feet a little to try and get the blood moving. “It’s a masterpiece. I nearly threw mine over the hedge when I saw it and a part of me was very tempted to push hers off the table. Only a little part though. Come on, I’ll show you and we can say hello to everyone. You must be freezing, poking about in the snow.”

Kili laughed as he stood. “I don’t think I feel the cold in the same way you do. This is only a little dusting.”

It was more than a dusting. Bilbo looked around the snow laden field. He hadn’t seen a fall like it in many years and it was still coming down heavily. It looked pretty, but it would be prettier inside the tent looking out. Preferably with something warm in each of his cold hands.

“Most years we would have a lot of snow, everything would be covered in a thick blanket.” Kili looked in the direction of the faraway Blue Mountains, his voice wistful. “It could be treacherous, the valley road would disappear and we would be completely cut off. Some winters the drifts would be as high as you. Higher even. Piled up outside the gates and in the streets. Fee and I would have…well.” He turned to Bilbo and smiled widely. It didn’t touch his eyes. “It doesn’t matter. Let’s get you warm and see this offering of Marigold’s. Lead on.”

The large tent belonged to the Green Dragon and they’d cleverly positioned it facing out of the bitter wind. It was crowded, full of merry hobbits from what looked like all of Hobbiton and Bywater. Bilbo smiled as Kili was separated off from him almost immediately and towed away toward the food-laden trestle tables that lined the inner wall of the tent. Their surfaces bowed under all manner of sweet and savoury delights. Bilbo’s stomach rumbled in anticipation. He’d snatched a few bites earlier but he was very ready for seconds. Perhaps even thirds if he was lucky, and quick about it.

“He’s settling in well then?” Gandalf pressed a blessedly hot mug into his hands and Bilbo smiled up at the wizard gratefully.

He took a large sniff and a sip of the heavily spiced wine. It tasted of Yuletide. “Ah, that’s lovely. Thank you.” Bilbo glanced across the tent. He could see Kili’s head above the crowd and what looked like Hamfast attached to his side. He was sure by now they would be pressing food and drink into Kili's hands, whether the dwarf wanted it or not. He could only hope Kili was hungry. He smiled up again at Gandalf. “He’s doing very well. Mostly anyway. It’s very good to see you again. Where have you been?”

“Oh, here and there.” Gandalf steered them toward a small table and shooed a gaggle of younger hobbits from it. “You know how it is.”

Bilbo did. Evasive as always. But it was nice to see him. “You will stay a few days, Gandalf? The weather is far too poor to travel.”

“Perhaps. I’ve taken a room at the inn for tonight.”

“The inn?” Bilbo was affronted. “I won’t hear of it. You will stay at Bag End of course. We have plenty of room and we can all get caught up properly.”

Gandalf chuckled and nodded, rummaging about in his pockets.

“Have you—” Bilbo took a quick glance around and lowered his voice. “—heard anything from...the mountain?” He didn’t dare say Erebor. Not that any of the hobbits would likely have recognised it anyway, but you never knew. It didn’t do any harm to show a little caution.

“Ah, there it is.” Gandalf produced his pipe and set it on the table. He started searching through his many pockets again, muttering. Bilbo handed over his own pouch of pipeweed and Gandalf smiled his thanks, taking out a generous pinch.

“Gandalf?”

“Hmm?” Gandalf tamped down the tobacco. “Oh. No. Not really.”

No wasn’t quite the same as not really. Bilbo fixed Gandalf with what he hoped was a look that demanded a straight answer. Gandalf lit his pipe and stared back at him consideringly.

“Nothing really. Rumours, that sort of thing. Dwarves don’t talk outside their own kind, you know that well enough by now.”

Shaking the wizard would be frowned upon. Bilbo sat on his hands, just in case the urge came over him.

“It seemed very unlikely anyhow,” Gandalf said as he sent a large smoke ring across the heads of the crowd. He nodded and looked very satisfied with himself. “Knowing what we know about Thorin.”

Bilbo thought his heart might have stopped.

“Thorin?” He managed at last in a voice that suddenly didn’t sound quite like his own. He swallowed and tried again. “What is it about Thorin?”

Hurt. Sick. The gold sickness again. Bolg. The possibilities chased each other through Bilbo’s mind. Each one worse than the last.

Married. Bilbo wiped suddenly sweaty hands on his trousers, his heart hammering uncomfortably in his ears. He recalled a conversation with Thorin before they had left Erebor. Thorin’s hopes for the future. Hopes that rested entirely on Fili. But what if Fili had refused? Bilbo took a fortifying slug of his cooling wine. What if the only way to continue the Durin line was for Thorin to marry? He swallowed again hard and braced himself. One way or the other, he had to know.

“Gandalf!” Kili hugged the wizard and placed a laden plate on the table in front of Bilbo. “I didn’t know what the two of you would want so I brought you a bit of everything.”

Bilbo stared at the plate as Gandalf exclaimed happily over its contents.

He’d quite lost his appetite.

Hobbits kept arriving with tankards of spiced ale and wine. Bilbo smiled and chatted through it all, making all the right noises but hearing nothing. Completely preoccupied. His thoughts half a world away, walking through the golden halls of a mountain king. He nibbled on a piece of buttery pie crust in the hope it would settle his churning stomach. He needed to get Gandalf alone and wring every last drop of information out of him, by any means necessary.

“Right.” Gandalf stood and drained his mug. “It’s about time I think.”

Bilbo looked at the canvas of the tent behind the wizard as it snapped and billowed in the wind. “Bit stormy for fireworks, is it not?”

“Nonsense.” Gandalf snorted. “I would have thought you, of all people, would have had a little more faith in me by now, Bilbo Baggins. When have I ever let you down?”

Bilbo exchanged a glance with Kili as they stood and followed Gandalf. They stopped at the edge of the canvas with the other spectators and watched the wizard make his way slowly through the driving snow to a large cart. One hand pressed tight to his hat as the wind tried to tear it from his head. His cloak and robes whipping and flapping around his long legs.

“I still think it’s a bit windy for this,” Bilbo whispered.

Kili grinned. “I hope not. I’ve never seen fireworks and I’ve been looking forward to this since you first told me about them. What’s the worst that can happen?”

Setting fire to the Shire and the surrounding countryside. That was likely the worst that could happen. But perhaps Gandalf knew what he was about. Bilbo watched as the wizard wrestled the lid from a large box and tossed it aside. He tried to remember how many spiced ales and wines Gandalf had drank over the course of the evening.

The music stopped and an excited hush fell over the crowd as Gandalf raised his staff, its tip glowing fiercely in the gloom. Gingerly he reached out, touched the staff to the box and scuttled hurriedly backwards, as, with a whoosh and a loud crackle, the first firework shot skywards.

Miraculously the wind didn’t seem to touch the fireworks and they flew straight and true, like elvish arrows, to burst high in the night sky, painting it with brightly coloured flowers and showers of sparks. The hobbits cheered wildly, and Bilbo looked up into Kili’s spellbound face, light and shadow playing across it, as the vivid colours bloomed and faded far above their heads.

Perhaps sensing eyes on him Kili glanced down at Bilbo and smiled. A wide, genuine smile as he slung a heavy arm around Bilbo’s shoulders and turned his face back up to watch the fireworks. “It’s beautiful, Bilbo. Thank you.”

Bilbo looked back up to the sky and clapped with the others as a huge snapdragon exploded above their heads, multi coloured streamers of light curling slowly down and across the field. A new year, with all the promise that might bring. New life and a brand new adventure. Perhaps there could even yet be a reconciliation. It was all unwritten and crammed full of possibility. As pure as a field of untracked snow and as exciting as a cartload of fireworks on a winter's night.

**Author's Note:**

> I like the idea that Bilbo planted the acorn from Beorn's garden when he returned home to the Shire. And that it grew up into the party tree. 
> 
> This is the first entire work that I've written from Bilbo's pov. Bilbo scares me a little because he is such a big character so I hope it reads ok. 
> 
> If you have any feedback I'd love to hear it. 
> 
> Wishing you a very happy New Year and all the best for 2021.


End file.
